Forgotten World
by Stella Stargaze
Summary: A forgotten world, filled with the forgotten. Not one heart in sight. But plenty of Heartless searching for one.
1. Wasteland

**Hey guys. I know I should be writing that Sonic fic I said I would start but I felt that this needed to be done. Though I am pretty far into planning it all out.**

 **I was sure I'd find more fanfics for this. These two games seem like they go together really well. Oh well, I'll just add one to the pile. Please R &R and enjoy!**

Yen Sid moved about his study, arranging potions and checking on different spells and such. He could hear the young keyblade wielders practicing down below.

A glint caught the corner of his eye and he turned toward it quickly. A book that he kept on his desk at all times had started glowing. He was instantly alarmed as this was a very special book.

A very special world.

...

Oswald walked hand in hand with Ortensia down the repaired Mean Street. It had been a while since the guardian spirit incident and basically all the destruction had been repaired.

They waved at the toons they passed while they chatted idly. Oswald sudden stopped looking ahead. Ortensia confusedly follow _e_ d his gaze and found a small black creature with large yellow eyes.

...

Sora flopped down on the grass in front of the mysterious tower, panting. Kairi sat down next to him, "Tired?"

The brunette didn't even respond. Just continued to lay there catching his breathe.

"I told you to take a break like ten times, Sora," Riku sat on the other side of the tired teen, lightly kicking his leg, "But you didn't listen. This is your own fault."

Sora blindly swung out his arm toward his friend but in vain. Riku simply moved to one side to avoid the strike. He didn't bother to raise his arm back up and just left it there. "I've got to work hard to become a keyblade master!"

"Well you definitely get an A for effort," Donald said from behind the trio with Goofy next to him.

Sora smiled up at the duck, rising to a sitting position, "Hey, where's the king?" he asked as he noticed the mouse's absence.

"Don't know. He went to see Yen Sid a little while ago."

"That he did." Donald jumped high into the air at the sudden appearance of the old sorcerer, landing beak first a far bit away from the group.

"Follow me," Yen Sid told them as he turned to reenter the tower.

They all did as they were told with Donald trailing in the back, yelling about being left behind.

…

"The king is in this book?" Sora asked, giving the said book a curious look.

"Yes," Yen Sid nodded, "It's a special world."

"You mean like Pooh's storybook?" Goofy asked.

"This world is much different from the storybook," Yen Sid explained, "While the two are both contained inside a book, there is one major difference between them. But you will discover that soon enough."

"Why did he go in? He didn't even say anything to any of us," Riku pointed out.

"You see, this world is very special to him and there appears to be a crisis happening." The group stayed silent, waiting for further explanation. "The heartless have somehow found a way into the world and because of its nature they have gone berserk and are causing havoc. Mickey has gone to help."

"Its nature?" Riku repeated under his breath. Yen Sid didn't seem to hear him.

"Is there any way we can help?" Kiari asked.

They all looked expectedly at the sorcerer. "If you truly wish to help you must do so under one condition," no one said a word, "Only one of you must go."

"Wait, what?" they all said as one.

"As I said the nature of this world is strange. I do not want too many of you going."

"Can you tell us anything about this 'nature'?" Sora asked, a small amount of irritation starting to enter his voice.

Yen Sid said nothing for a moment, making Sora nervous, "Only certain people can become residents of the world," he finally said, "Mickey was able to enter because of a bit of mischief he made early in his training. He didn't even have his keyblade." He reminisced.

"So who's going to go?" Sora asked the group.

Donald opened his beak to talk but was interrupted by Yen Sid, "Donald and Goofy must stay."

Donald froze with his beak open before, "What? Why?"

"In the book each of you have counterparts. Your presence is not needed."

Everyone turned to the two. 'What is this world?' they all thought.

"I'm still in training so I probably wouldn't be very helpful," Kiari piped up.

"And I'm the one training her," Riku added, "Looks like you're up Sora."

The hyper boy nodded enthusiastically, all his exhaustion from earlier having disappeared in the face of this new adventure. He turned to Yen Sid, "Isn't there anything you can tell me about this place?"

He shook his head, "It would take much too long to explain. Besides, I believe it would be better for you to find the answers for yourself." He gestured toward the book.

The book opened as Sora came closer with his friends close behind him. They each peaked over his shoulder to look at the pages showing this new world.

"What about its name?" Sora asked as he prepared himself for his journey.

Yen Sid smiled, "Wasteland is its name."

…

Oswald brought his remote out in front of him, pointed toward the strange creature. Ortensia stood at his back, watching it from above his shoulder.

Where did these things come from? They just suddenly appeared and started wrecking everything!

It suddenly lashed out toward them. Ortensia moved closer to Oswald as he got ready to push the button on his remote. But he never finished the movement. Out of nowhere it vanished and in its place stood a mouse with a large key, clad in red.

"Long time no see guys."


	2. Heartless Invasion

**Hey sorry this took so long. I wanted to go over the gameplay and stuff a bit more so that I could actually get this correct and since I don't have the proper consoles to play either game I've had to look up game footage (and hopefully everything is ok) and then real life slapped me and I started another story which was really dumb of me but eh. I've got something up now so enjoy and review.**

Sora landed face first into the ground upon entering Wasteland. He sat up, blinking the stars out of his vision as he looked around at his new surroundings.

He had landed in the middle of a circular arrangement of colorful houses. In front of him was a gold fountain with a blue liquid inside it and there seemed to be train tracks off to the side though there was no one in the booth.

But there was no sign of the heartless that Yen Sid had told him about.

What now? He had no idea how this world operated and no clue where the king could be. Maybe he could knock on the doors of these houses and get some information?

"Are you alright?"

Sora turned around to the voice and nearly jumped out of his skin. The one who had asked was a rundown robotic Goofy. He lost an arm and one of his eye opticals was exposed. His clothes were a torn mess.

'This must be the version of Goofy Yen Sid mentioned,' Sora realized as his heart rate slowed back to a normal pace. It was strange seeing his friend like this. Even if it wasn't technically him.

"Yeah, thanks."

The animatronic copy scanned him up and down. Sora was starting to get uncomfortable under his gaze until, "You're not from this world are you?"

Once again, Sora barely avoided a heart attack. How did he know about the different worlds? What happened to that 'World Order' that Donald constantly told him about during their first adventure?

"Um yeah," he managed to spit out. "I thought no one would know about the other worlds," he admitted when Goofy gave him a quizzical look.

"Well that's alright. I'm Goofy."

Because he didn't already know that… "Sora."

"What're you doin' here, Sora?"

"I came here looking for the k- Mickey. I'm looking for Mickey," he corrected himself, remembering Yen Sid's words. "He's a friend of mine."

"I didn't even know he's here."

"You know him?"

He nodded, "I haven't seen him in a while though. When you find him, mind sayin' hi for me?"

"Sure. But," Sora scratched his head nervously, "I'm not really sure where to go. Do you have a map or-"

"Help!" they both whipped around at the sudden cry. A tall female horse in a long dress was quickly running toward them with high levels of distress very imminent. "There are strange black creatures on Mean Street! They're destroying everything!"

Sora didn't need anything else, "Goofy, how do I get there?"

He blinked surprised by the boy's sudden eagerness, "Are you gonna try to fight those things?"

He nodded vigorously, "I can't just ignore it. I can help out. Plus I'm _sure_ that's were Mickey is."

"He does always seem to be near the action," Goofy thought aloud, "Alright. I'll show you where the projector is."

"Projector?"

…

"Mickey!" the mouse was tackled in a hug by his cat friend.

"It's good to see you too, Ortensia," Mickey choked out from her tight grip.

"You always seem to have the best timing," Oswald praised as he gave him a quick hug as well, "Nice outfit."

Mickey looked down at his clothes, suddenly realizing how much his style has changed. "Thanks. But we really need to focus on these Heartless."

"Heartless? Is that what these things are called?"

The mouse nodded as more shadows appeared around them, "Let's hurry and take care of them before someone gets hurt!"

He summoned a large key, seemingly out of nowhere, and prepared for battle. His friend took a special notice of his weapon, "Where's your paint brush?"

Mickey looked down at the key for a second before replying, "I have it. But it won't be very effective against these guys," Oswald looked like he was about to ask another question but Mickey quickly cut in before he had the chance.

"Later."

…

Sora leapt out of the projector with a mix of wonder and confusion. Goofy had explained how to go through them but he hadn't told him _what_ was in them and he felt slightly overwhelmed by it.

He was quickly taken out of the trance when a solider heartless suddenly attacked him. Taking out his keyblade he quickly dealt with it but there were more to soon take its place.

Gritting his teeth, he dove into battle against the hoard. They were all weak enemies but the sheer number of them gave him some trouble. He took a couple hits, but managed to ward off his attackers with very little incident.

He stood in place, panting as he was finally able to take in his surroundings. He seemed to be in a square with a large statue in the middle of a man and rabbit. There were many buildings about, a good amount with holes and scratch marks strewn about. Wreckage lined the streets, making it difficult to navigate when he started to move about.

He kept his keyblade at the ready for anymore ambushes, but the area seemed surprisingly empty. He assumed that the people who lived here had evacuated the place, but the absence of the heartless worried him. It was obvious that they were here by all the damage. He would think that they would be unrelenting on him.

Maybe the king has taken care of most of them? Or maybe…

Sora shook out the negative thoughts that started forming in his head. The king was just fine. He could handle himself.

And yet he still picked up his pace as he continued through the wreckage known as Mean Street.

…

Mickey couldn't help but let out a quiet growl as the numbers of heartless incessantly came at them no matter how many they took down. He could here Oswald panting from somewhere behind him and felt a small tang of worry for his friend. He wasn't used to this type of fighting. Sure they took on some big tough enemies before, but he never had an onslaught like this facing him before. He was sure that the rabbit would be able to hold his own just fine but he was definitely running low on stamina.

Another shadow jumped at him and he quickly dealt with it, only to barely avoid the fist of a large body. The mouse lost balance as the force of the hit shook the ground beneath him. He landed on his back and all the air in him briefly left his body as the shock of the impact coursed through his body.

Propping himself up on his elbow, he realized the large heartless was towering over him and preparing to attack him while his defense was shattered. He heard Oswald and Ortensia call out to him as he brought up his keyblade to defend, but the need for it disappeared when the heartless was knocked back by a large fireball.

Mickey blinked in surprise before spinning around to find the source of the fire. He was very surprised to find his young spikey haired friend running toward him.

"Are you okay?" he asked the mouse when he reached him.

"Sora? What are you doing here?" Mickey asked, ignoring the question.

"Master Yen Sid sent me. Well I asked him to but still. We were all worried about you."

"Oh. Sorry 'bout that," he had totally forgotten to tell them he was leaving for a bit. Oops.

A row of soldiers appeared behind him, cutting the conversation short. Spinning around, he cast a spell himself; a mass of lightning striking down the heartless one by one. Giving a quick nod to Sora the two started taking out the heartless slowly but surely.

"It's weird," Sora commented as he slashed trough a small group of shadows trying to rush him, "I went through a good amount of this place and the only heartless I've seen were at the projector."

"Nowhere else?" Mickey asked, avoiding projectile shots from above him.

"Nope. I don't get it."

"We'll have to worry about it later," he told him as he took out a shadow that had managed to sneak up on the boy.

Sora thanked him and went back to his battle with two very annoying large bodies.

Mickey went to go check on his two friends to find them a few feet away giving him very bewildered looks.

"What is going on here?"


	3. Story Time

**This got more attention than I thought it was going to get. I'm glad you guys like it! And thanks Sunny Lighter for being my first reviewer!**

 **Sorry about the large time gaps between chapters but I hope you like what I've gotten here. Enjoy!**

Oswald looked between the mouse and brown headed boy multiple times before repeating his question, "What is happening?"

"Don't worry Oswald. He's my friend. He followed me in from outside."

"Outside?" the rabbit looked at the boy again, who had slashed through countless heartless in the short time they had been talking, "So he has a-?"

"Uh huh," he confirmed. "Probably the biggest one I've ever seen too."

"I didn't think anyone else could come in," Ortensia piped in.

Mickey fired a ball of ice from his keyblade at a soldier heartless trying to make its way toward them, "This is sort of a special case. I'll be able to explain once these guys aren't attacking us every 5 seconds," he looked around the area, "Though it does seem like we're finally making some headway."

The two looked around as well. He was right. There only seemed to be a couple dozen of them left. Which was a huge improvement over the hoard they just faced against.

"Wow," Oswald commented.

Mickey chuckled at the rabbit's reaction, "Come on," he goaded him as he went back into battle.

"Hey wait up!" he called as he ran forward to catch up.

Sora caught a glimpse of the king out of the corner of his eye as he battled. It looked like he was talking to the rabbit from that statue he saw earlier. Did they know each other?

He noticed the rabbit glance at him a few times before Mickey started talking again. Guess that's not too surprising. He did sort of show up out of nowhere.

It hadn't taken him long to find the king. In the stillness and silence that the place had it was easy to distinguish the sounds of fighting from even a mile away.

Of course he hadn't expected to see the king on the ground about to be pounded by a heartless. Thank goodness for magic though. His fire had hit the large body right before it hit the mouse.

With two keyblade wielders around it didn't take long for the heartless numbers to decrease. Though it was still odd that they all seemed to be in this one area. It was like they were targeting it or something…

"You okay Sora?"

Said boy turned to the mouse as he was questioned. "I'm fine. Uh," the rabbit he saw before came up, flanking Mickey with a cat coming right behind him, "Who are you?"

"Name's Oswald," he pointed to the female cat, "And this is Ortensia."

Sora smiled at the two. They didn't seem like bad people. Especially if they knew the king, "I'm Sora. Nice to meet you."

"When did you get here?" Mickey asked.

"Not too long ago actually. I met this world's version of Goofy and he showed me how to get here," he informed him, "By the way what's up with those projectors?"

"'This world's'? So you know the original Goofy?"

"Um," Sora was caught off guard. He'd met very few people who knew about the other worlds. To find so many packed into one confused him, "Yeah. He's a good friend of mine," he turned to the mouse, "Your Majesty, I'm kinda confused here. Why do so many people know about the other worlds?"

"Majesty?!"

His question seemed to be completely ignored as Oswald and Ortensia spun towards the mouse who had started blushing slightly.

"Aheh. Yeah so I've got a bit of explainin to do," he admitted.

"Uh huh."

"Come on. Let's get to the castle first. It's safer than here."

The two grudgingly agreed and led the way with a very confused Sora tailing in the back.

"Mickey!"

"Hi there Gus! It's good to see you," Mickey laughed as they were greeted by the gremlin.

"You too. You came just in the nick of time. There's been-" he stopped when he noticed the boy trailing behind the group. "Who's this fellow?"

"I'm Sora. I-"

"Okay we got the introductions out of the way," Oswald interrupted impatiently. He spun to look at Mickey, "What is going on Mickey?"

"Oswald!" Gus scolded, shock at the outburst evident on his face. "What's gotten into you?"

"Sora called him 'Majesty' and now he's impatient for an answer" Ortensia explained.

"Plus he wasn't using the brush to fight of those creatures that he apparently knows about." Oswald added.

"Oh…" the gremlin turned to look at the mouse as well.

"Aheh…"

Sora was surprised by how nervous the king looked as he began his story, starting with his training with Yen Sid. He had never seen him so uncomfortable and unconfident. Well, there was when Goofy was hit with the giant rock, but he had seemed more angry. Not anxious like he was seeing here.

He got a few glances from the small audience whenever the king mentioned him in the tale. And he blushed as a few of his silly slip ups came up. Like falling into a huge pile of snow and having to use his fire spells to get out while they were helping Mulan. He got enough teasing from Donald about the incidents, but he didn't even _know_ the king had seen them. That just made him feel twice as embarrassed. The others laughing certainly didn't help.

Eventually though Mickey's explanation came to an end. There was silence for a few moments as the story seemed to process in their minds. Mickey had shrunk down into himself, and avoided looking anyone in the eyes. He really hadn't planned on telling them. At least not right away. He liked being a normal person here. (Well, normalish. He was still a hero here). It was nostalgic and while he knew living in the past wasn't an option, he liked being able to come back to it. Coming back here. He just hoped that this news didn't change things as much as he worried they would.

Oswald seemed to feel the mouse's nervousness. He smiled and stood up, placing a hand on Mickey's shoulder and looking him straight in the eyes, "You're castle better not be bigger than mine."

Mickey couldn't help but laugh at his friend's terrible joke. All the tension seemed to leave with his voice as it bounced off the walls around them.

Sora was glad to see him suddenly relax. He had been starting to worry about him.

He didn't stay on those thoughts long though. Ortensia suddenly appeared next to him, making him jump about five feet into the air. "So you've been helping Mickey out huh?" the brunette nodded as his heartbeat steadied again. (What is with this world and freaking him out so often?!) "Thanks. These boys can be so hopeless." She held out her hand to him and, smiling, he took it and shook.

Meanwhile the two boys in question were making loud noises of protest.


	4. Nature of Heartless and the World

**I am so tired. School and game making and drawing and archery and *Passes out***

 **Have a chapter. And thank you to everyone who's reviewed. I'd respond personally below like normal but it is very late and I am tired. Enjoy!**

"So the real question here is," Oswald paced around the room as he monologue, "Why were they all concentrated in that area?"

"Well they had to be everywhere at some point right?" Sora asked, "There was wreckage everywhere."

"Ah we gotta rebuild all that _again_ ," Oswald realized.

Sora decided to ask about that 'again' part later. "When I walked through it though, they were nowhere to be seen."

"So they moved to that spot?" Mickey suggested, "Is there anything that they would want or anything?"

"Not particularly."

"Hm…"

"Well," Ortensia looked down, a worried look sweeping over her face.

"What is it?"

She looked up, directly at Mickey, "Their numbers seemed to increase once you got there."

There was silence for a moment.

"So," Gus began, "They're after Mickey?"

"It's most likely because I have a heart," he stated, barely fazed by the information.

"But then wouldn't they have been swarming me too?" Sora asked, "I barely saw anything while I was looking for you."

"You said some attacked you at the projector right?" Oswald pointed out.

"Yeah but they were already there. It wasn't like they hunted me down or something."

Oswald looked to the mouse, the worry evident in his eyes. "Don't worry," Mickey assured him, "I'll be fine."

"Why though?" Gus asked, "Why are they coming after you?"

Mickey shook his head. "Don't know. There are lots of reasons the heartless wouldn't like me."

"Do you think maybe…" Sora bit his lip and sighed, "Do you think that someone might be controlling them? They aren't normally so organized like this."

"Well, Maleficent certainly doesn't know about this place. I only came upon it by accident. It's a secret that Yen Sid has always guarded to keep this place safe."

"So it's not anyone we know?"

"You're not suggesting it's someone in Wasteland are you?" Ortensia asked nervously.

"No," Mickey assured her, "We don't even know if there _is_ someone in charge of them. It's just a possibility." She nodded.

"In any case, if they're targeting Mickey then we need to be careful."

"It'll be fine, Oswald," Mickey lightly shoved the rabbit, "Come on. We need to go tell everyone that it's safe."

The rabbit smiled back and followed him out along with the rest of the group. But there was one question that they had seemingly forgotten to ask.

How had they gotten into Wasteland in the first place?

* * *

Sora sat on the stairs in front of mean street station, looking out among the wreckage. He could sense the king behind him and didn't have to turn around to see the sad look in his eyes. The brunette sighed. How long had he been coming here? He seemed to be really close to Oswald and everyone for them to worry over him so much. He played their conversation from earlier over and over in his head.

Then he stopped.

Something the king had said. About the heartless attacking him.

"Your majesty?" he received a small hm as reply, "Do the people here have hearts?"

The king was silent. He had said to them 'It's most likely because I have a heart'. But that would mean that-

"No, Sora. They don't."

He turned around, looking the king straight in the eyes. "But wouldn't that make them-?"

"Not exactly," Sora stayed silent, "The way they lost their hearts is quite different. It caused them to not be able to live in their own worlds, so Yen Sid made this world especially for them. I was the only person to ever be able to come in here without a heart until you came along."

Sora sighed, "So that's why the heartless were going more beserk than usual before we got here? Because there weren't any hearts for them?"

"That's about it yes. Did Yen Sid not explain it to you?"

"No. He just talked about 'the nature of this world' and that 'it's a very special world'. He wouldn't give us a straight answer."

Mickey laughed, "Sounds like him."  
"He said that it would be better for me to learn about it here."

"Well, what would you have initially thought of Oswald and Ortensia if you knew they didn't have hearts when you met them?"

"I-" he stopped. He had thought that they were nice when he first met them. But if he was looking at them as beings without hearts…

"See?" Sora's head snapped up to the king. He looked slightly amused.

Sora smiled at the mouse and nodded. He turned back to look out at Mean Street once again.

"How did this place look without all the wreckage?" he asked.

"Honestly I haven't seen it much when it wasn't in some wrecked state," Sora glanced over at him, "I'm usually here if they need my help. That means there's typically some wrecky thing running around."

"Yeah, you need to come visit sometime when there's not a major crisis going on."

Oswald suddenly appeared behind them, taking a seat next to Mickey. How long had he been there? Sora hoped that he hadn't heard their conversation about them not having hearts. He didn't want him to get the wrong idea.

The mouse laughed, "That would definitely be nice."

"Where are the others?" Sora asked noticing the absence of the cat and gremlin.

"They're getting the message out that it's safe to come back," there was a loud crashing sound in the distance, "Mostly safe to come back." He corrected.


	5. A Bit of Repairs

**This is mostly just a short little filler chapter. My brain is kinda fried from thanksgiving and I've been a bit sick the last couple days but I felt like writing a little. Honestly I tried to write more for this a while ago but my mom was having a big Harry Potter Movie Marathon party and I ended up babysitting a little girl that was brought along by somebody sooo. Yeah. Small children wanting to watch Deigo and Nemo on the computer you use for writing makes it a bit difficult. XP Anyway enjoy this short little chapter.**

 **Pokeevee57: Glad you're excited and thanks for the support with the whole life thing. It can definitely suck but at least it gives us stuff like Kingdom Hearts and Epic Mickey right? :3**

"Those thing weren't worth the effort!"

"Well they did a mighty fine job of smashin up the place."

"But that's not what we wanted 'em to do?"

"It was that spikey haired kid's fault. Who was that kid?"

"We'll just have to ask when we go get some more of those monster things from him. Now come on!"

* * *

"What's that thing your Majesty?"

The mouse looked to the brunette, slightly lowering the said thing. He smiled, "It's my paintbrush."

Sora walked over to get a closer look at the brush, "It's a pretty big paintbrush."

Mickey laughed, "Yeah it is. But it's got a very special use here."

Sora gave him a very quizzical look before the mouse demonstrated. He pointed the brush at the building in front of them and a stream of blue paint jetted out of it and where the paint landed part of the house slowly started to appear. Sora gaped at the brush's work, "That's so cool! Can it so anything else?"

"Yes, but I don't normally like to do it."

Sora gave him a curious look but didn't question further.

"Hey Mickey!" they both turned around to the speaker, the Wasteland version of Daisy. Sora must have been starting to get used to the surprises of the world because he only slightly jumped when he saw the robotic duck. There was a camera man following behind her.

"Hi Daisy," the mouse waved at her, "What's up?"

"Well, I heard that you had come back and there's always a story where you are," she waved around a microphone, "Plus it's always good to see you."

"It's good to see you too."

"Oh, who's this?" Daisy turned to Sora who started at her mention.

"I'm Sora."

"He's a friend of mine," Mickey told her, "He's here to help out with what's going on."

"You mean those monsters? Can you tell us what's going on with them?"

The camera was focused on the mouse but he didn't seem too fazed by it, "They're called Heartless, but we're not really sure about why they're here. We're trying to figure it out now though."

"Is there any threat of them coming back."

He stayed silent for a moment before answering, "Possibly. Hopfully we'll have figured all this out by then."

"Thank you Mickey," the camera was put away, "Are you okay by the way. You were fighting those things right?"

"Yeah I was, and I'm fine. Thanks."

"Good. I've got to go edit this so we can broadcast it. See you later."

"Bye Daisy."

And just as quickly as she appeared she was gone. Sora looked over to the king who shrugged. "She runs the news around here so she runs around a lot."

"Oh."

"Hey guys," Oswald now came up to them, "How's the repairs going over here?"

"Great, though there was a slight interruption from Daisy just now."

"You guys too? She got me earlier."

"So," Sora started, "What else do we need to do?"

"Actually I heard that there had been some sightings of some monsters in Rainbow caverns. I came over here to tell you guys." Oswald informed them.

"Do you know what they look like?" Mickey asked.

"I think they said they were like bats with giant hooks attached to them."

Sora snapped his fingers, "I know those. They're hook bat heartless. Pete used them when we were in Olympus Colosseum."

"So more heartless. Have they attacked at all?" Mickey questioned further.

"As far as I can tell, no," Oswald shrugged, "I don't know if that should be worrying me or not."

"They might be planning something."

"So I _should_ be worried."

"Na. All we've got to do is stop whatever it is they're doin' right?" Sora stated confidently.

"Right," Mickey confirmed, "And we should even find some answers about this whole mess."

"Then let's head out!" Oswald enthusiastically announced, "Ortensia and Gus should be able to handle the rest of the repairs here. We've gotten pretty good at it by now."

Sora again wondered exactly how many times this place had been beat up as he and the two headed out for the Rainbow caverns. Although he wasn't looking forward to the projector that much.


	6. The Hook Bats

**Yo! Late Merry Christmas to you all. I meant to write something to release on the day but I've just been so tired. Mostly from finals yuck! But in other news I'm making Kairi's keyblade for a new cosplay I'm making for a panel I'm going to be on in an upcoming con so that's exciting!**

 **Anyway I hope you like this chapter and thanks for reading. :3**

 **Pokeevee57:** **I'm feeling much better thanks! :) I imagine when Sora has to go through the Music Land projector he just sorta yells "Why are the music notes exploding!?" after getting blown up. It's just a funny image for me.**

Mickey gripped his keyblade loosely as they wondered through the underground of Rainbow Caverns. Sora beside him gripped his tightly. Oswald tossed his remote from hand to hand as he talked with the mouse, hardly fazed by the possible presence of the heartless bats.

"So how many kinds of these heartless are there?"

"Too many to really count," he explained as they continued on, "There are some that are unique to certain worlds so it would be like trying to count the stars in the sky."

"Shadows are the most common though," Sora interjected, "They were the smaller ones with antennas."

A blurred shape zoomed in front of the brunette's face, stopping whatever reply was about to come. The three turned in the direction the blur bolted.

"And that is a hook bat heartless."

Said heartless flapped its wings rapidly as it stared down the three heroes.

"Guess that rumor was right," Oswald commented as he examined the creature.

"And I'm betting, if there's one-" Mickey glanced behind them at the roof. That seemed to be a trigger as a flood of them descended from their perches toward them. The mouse quickly cast Thundaga in front of them to detour the assailants. A few of them disappeared as the lightning struck them while others made abrupt stops to avoid destruction, causing traffic jams throughout the bats ranks as they fell over each other. "Come on! Let's get somewhere more open." The mouse ordered before running off.

His friends swiftly followed; Sora destroying the decoy heartless before jetting off.

As they ran through the tunnels they could hear the beating of all the bats wings behind them. They weren't catching up, but if they couldn't find anywhere with decent fighting space soon…

Mickey shook the thought out of his head and chanced a glance behind him. The hoard was closer than he had originally thought, but they were held back but occasional firagas from Sora. How long had the boy been casting the spell? If he wasn't careful he'd run out of magic and that would end up badly when they finally had to confront the enemies up close.

Speaking of which, they finally were able to find a large area where they'd be able to move about. The bad news? This was the Projector Substation.

"Sora be careful in here. This place keeps all the projectors running. We don't want to damage anything."

Sora looked around the area briefly before nodding and the bats burst into the area. Oswald immediately pressed the button on his remote, zapping many of them away, but more came to take their place. Mickey cast Blizzaga at the foot of the tunnel opening, creating a wall to make the passage smaller, thus giving them less enemies to deal with at a time.

Sora looked down at his keyblade before grimacing. No magic. He'd have to get up close with them.

He leapt toward the group slashing in front of him. Then behind. To his side. Geez these things were everywhere! One of the bat's trademark hooks latched onto his weapon. He tried to pull it loose but to no avail. He sensed the attack coming from behind him and he suddenly had an idea. He allowed the keyblade to disappear and rolled out of the way of the foes' attack, having it reappear in his hand from his new position.

"Nice work, Sora!"

He smiled at the king's praise before returning his attention to the fight at hand. Their numbers had harshly decreased and when he looked back at their entry point he realized why.

They had gotten stuck.

They had managed to wedge themselves into the small space that the king had created and were flapping their wings uselessly. Some didn't even bother to and just stayed there, accepting their fate. The others behind them, who were very frustrated by the block, were ramming into the pile in hopes of knocking their fellow heartless out of the jam. The effort was hopeless however.

Sora couldn't help but snort at the sight. Mickey and Oswald, confused by the outburst looked to where he was looking. Oswald nearly broke down laughing, using Mickey as support while the mouse held his hands over his mouth in attempt to contain his own giggles.

"Well that sure makes things easy," Oswald said as he got a hold of himself.

Mickey nodded as he turned to the hoard and cast a thundaga, wiping out the remaining heartless in the caverns.

Sora walked over to the two still quietly giggling. "That was awesome."

The comment set Oswald off into another set of giggles. He bent over to try and catch his breath from the laughter, using his knees as support. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

"I don't see Small Pete anywhere."

The statement initially alarmed Sora before the king quickly explained the whole thing with the multiple Petes of the world.

"Is he supposed to be here?" Mickey asked when he finally calmed down the boy, who still looked mildly concerned with the whole thing.

"Yeah. After the whole deal with the projectors we had, Small Pete got assigned to come down and check up on this place regularly. He's usually here at this time. Actually," Oswald looked back to the two with a befuddled expression, "I haven't seen any of the Petes lately."

That was not comforting news. Especially to Sora. Pete may not be a very big threat, but having three of them running around causing trouble…

Just the thought made his head spin.

"Alight," Mickey said with a sigh, "Let's go ask around and see if anyone else has seen them."

"Do you think they might be involved in all this?" Sora asked, though he had already formed his own answer for the question.

Oswald looked at Mickey uncertainly. The mouse only reflected the expression. "At this point," the rabbit eventually said, "It wouldn't be smart to eliminate the possibility."


	7. Suspect(s)?

**Yo! We got a new cat and he's decided he wants to write. There were about 3 lines of vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv on this at some point. I took them out tho. Aaand now he's attacking the covers. Good job Link. You are a fierce kitty.**

 **Pokeevee57: I'm glad I made you laugh! That part was a lot of fun to write so it's awesome that you enjoyed it. :3**

 **General soto: Thanks so much! Don't worry I'll be finishing this story 100%. Promise! :)**

 **Plz R &R and enjoy :3**

Sora paced around the front of the small house, careful to avoid stepping on the bunny children running around the yard. He constantly cast glances to the nearby Gag factory impatiently.

"Relax," he heard the cat tell him from the doorway. "They'll be out any minute."

He sighed and nodded. He had already asked everyone who were on Mean Street about the Petes. Mickey and Oswald had gone to a few other areas to ask. From what Ortensia told him, the two had arrived back at OsTown about at the same time. They had gone off to see Jamface the gremlin in the Gag factory, where he'd been gathering spare parts there, and were still in there when Sora had arrived.

"I know," he told her with a smile, "I'm just a bit restless is all."

"Why don't you play with the kids then?"

"Play! Play! Play!"

"Huh? Whoa!"

Dozens of small rabbits tackled him to the ground in excitement at the prospect of a new playmate. Said playmate was so flustered by the sudden assault that he could barely form any words as the children bounced all around him.

"Kids, what are you doing?"

"Daddy!"

Sora was so thankful to the rabbit. He just stayed laying on the ground, listening as the hyper bunnies crowded their father instead of him.

"You okay Sora?"

"I'm fine you majesty," he sat up and looked over at the rabbit wrangling all his kids. "That's impressive."

Oswald smiled over at the boy, "I've had plenty of practice."

"Come on kids," Ortensia called, "Let's get dinner for you all while they talk." All the bunny children rushed back into the house at their mother's order. Before following them in she turned to the boys and said, "I want an update when you're done."

"Of course," Oswald told her as she entered the house. When the door closed he turned to Sora, "So what'd you get?"

"Nobody's seen any of them," he told them, "What about you?"

"Same," they both said at once.

"But," Mickey continued, "They're not the only ones. Prescott's missing too."

"Who's that?"

"A gremlin. He fought us last time I was here, but he _was_ being manipulated."

Oswald shrugged, "Maybe he just went into hiding after what he did."

"Still, we should tell Gus about this."

"Tell me what?"

They all spun around to find the red clad gremlin giving them a curious look. Mickey cautiously stepped forward, "Well-"

* * *

"What'd ya mean they're all destroyed?"

"What'd ya think it means?"

"Do you know how hard it is to get these heartless over dere?"

"Well it ain't our fault! We had 'em but some kid came and saved 'em!"

"Kid? What kid?"

"Some spikey haired boy with a big key like that mouse's."

A growl filled the room.

"How'd that punk get there?"

"Ya know him?"

"Yeah. He's-

* * *

"This is quite worrying," Gus hovered in front of the couch.

They had gone into the house so that Ortensia could be caught up as well. The bunny children had gone off to who knows where. They would come back at their mother's call.

"Do you really think that this is all connected?" Ortensia asked from her spot on the couch.

"I think it's a high possibility," Mickey told her. She scooted closer to her husband, gripping his hand. "We need a lead though." The mouse stated.

"How they're getting in would be a good start."

"How'd you get here before your majesty?"

"Well," the mouse thought back to his previous adventures, "I came through the book, or parchment at the time I guess. That can't be it- oh!" Mickey snapped as a realization hit him, "The TV! You guys contacted me through the TV didn't you?"

"That's right." Ortensia looked to Gus, "When the Mad Doctor came back we used a TV to contact you."

"So this TV might be allowing them to send in heartless?" Sora asked.

"Possibly. But I don't know how they would have obtained…"

"Prescott." Gus sadly nodded as the rabbit's conclusion.

"Still, we have no proof or way _to_ prove it," Mickey pointed out.

"If Yen Sid's the one maintaining this world," Sora thought out loud, "Do you think he'd be able to find out if there's another entry point?"

"Only one way to find out. Gus can we use that TV of yours?

* * *

Riku flopped down against the wall. Kairi may have still been learning, but the girl was still very good with her keyblade. Enough to make him out of breath after sparing with her for a while.

He sat there for a few minutes, catching his breath and going over their duels in his head, looking for any weakness in her fighting to point out to her the next session they had. Usually there weren't many. Sora would often help him find a few if there were any.

Sora. How was he doing in that other world? By now he should have found Mickey right? He sighed. Sora was perfectly capable of handling himself. He knew that but still, he wondered what was going on in that book.

Speaking of his friend, he could hear the optimistic boy's voice echoing through the building. Wait.

Riku bolted up. He couldn't be back yet could he? He followed the voice, it becoming clearer as he continued on.

"Riku? Kairi? Anyone there? Master Yen Sid?"

It sounded staticy. Why was it staticy?

He turned the corner and got his answer. A small television was set in the middle of the room and on it was his friend his hands pressed up against the screen, looking around. Riku froze at the sight.

Sora seemed to notice him, "Riku?"

"Um… Kairi? Could you come here a sec?"


	8. Talkin to a TV

**I HAVE NEW KINGDOM HEARTS AND I AM EXCITED HAVE A CHAPTER IN CELEBRATION OFF TO GAME!**

So… when she had heard Riku call her she didn't exactly expect this.

"What is going on?"

"Hi Kairi."

Riku sighed as the boy within the television waved at her. "I don't know. I've been waiting for an explanation."

"Right sorry," he smiled sheepishly at the two, "I'm still in Wasteland. This thing was made so that they could contact the king."

"Have you found him yet?" Riku asked.

"Yeah," his voice came out with some static, "He's in another room right now talking to Oswald."

"I'm assuming that's a friend?"

Sora nodded confirmation.

Kairi leaned down so that she'd be on eye level with the boy, "What's going on over there?"

"Well, we think that someone is using something like this," he lightly tapped the screen with his knuckles, "to send the heartless in with the help of some uh Petes in here."

"Wait," Kairi stopped him, "Did you just use Pete as a plural."

"Yeeeeeaaaah. The king said that there are different versions of Pete. It sorta freaked me out too."

"How many?"

"Three I think. But anyway," he continued, "We were hoping that Yen Sid might be able to find where they're coming in since he's the one who sustaining the world."

"Perhaps I can."

They all jumped at the sudden statement and whirled around to find the old wizard standing there.

"Hi," Sora waved from the television.

Yen Sid approached the TV set, "Hello. Mickey is with you yes?" the boy nodded, "I would like to speak with him."

His torso took up the screen as he sat up, "Your Majesty?" he called. There were a few muffled voices before he spoke again, "Yen Sid wants to talk to you."

There were a few more stifled statements before they heard footsteps approaching and Mickey's face appeared next to Sora's. "Master Yen Sid," he greeted. "Oh hi Riku and Kairi," he added happily as he saw the other two.

"Um," Kairi pointed to the mouse, "What's on your head?"

"Hm?" A blue fluff was situated on top of his head and as it was mentioned a part of it landed on his face.

"89!" a sudden voice called. The fluff seemed alert at the voice and hopped off of him toward it. "Sorry Mick."

The mouse waved at him nonchalantly, "It's fine Ozzie." They heard footsteps retreat, the voice silently scolding the blue fluff. "Just one of the bunny kids." They decided not to question the statement and get to the matter at hand. "What do you need?" he asked Yen Sid.

"What is the state of the world?"

"Well Mean Street is pretty much destroyed but nothing has happened to anyone here," Yen Sid nodded and he continued, "We have an idea as to who might be behind the heartless but we need to find them to know for sure."

"The Petes correct?" Mickey nodded, "And you haven't noticed anything else?"

Mickey gave him a confused look, "Is there something I should be noticing."

He slowly nodded, "I have been looking over the world's book," Mickey's expression turned to concern, as did all others' in the room, "There's a great darkness trying to take over Wasteland."

Mickey glanced nervously off screen toward where that voice from earlier disappeared and back. "How close is it?"

The wizard held is hand up to calm the mouse, "Not close enough to be a concern. Yet." Mickey sighed in relief, but his expression only relaxed slightly before he continued, "If you manage to defeat the ones bring in the darkness then things should go back to normal."

Mickey looked down in thought. Sora looked over to Kairi and Riku nearby, all of them sharing a concerned look at the king's slightly strange behavior.

"Now about the other entry point," Mickey's attention returned to the master as he continued, "I do believe there's another coming from Blot Alley."

"Thank you," Mickey said. The static was so bad that they could barely understand the mouse.

"I think you're breaking up," Kairi told them.

"Well this is sort of an iffy device," Mickey told them as he tried to mess with the tv. "We may have to break off."

"Just be careful alright?" she told them.

Sora nodded and gave them a thumbs up right before the screen went black.

There was silence in the room for a few moments afterward. Riku broke it, "Master Yen Sid?" the wizard turned to him, "Could you tell us more about Wasteland?"

* * *

"Your majesty, are you alright?"

The king sighed as he looked at the blank screen. "Yes. I'm just not sure how to explain it to them without worrying them."

"I don't think that's possible."

He smiled sadly, "I think you're right." He looked off to where the couple were holding back their many kids so that they'd be able to talk to the wizard. "I'll tell them right before we leave. For now let's tell them about Blot Alley."

Sora nodded in agreement. Making a plan without concern clouding their judgement might be a good idea.

As soon as Mickey opened the door he was tackled by multiple blue blurs. "Hi guys," he grunted out as he landed heavily on the ground.

"Kids!" Oswald scolded as he went to help Mickey. The mouse smiled as the rabbit lifted him back up.

"Why don't you all play outside," Ortensia suggested. They all quickly accepted the idea and ran outside to play whatever game they decided to play. Annoying one of the animatronics seemed to be their favorite game. Donald mainly.

"So?" Oswald asked when they had all gone.

"We're headed to Blot Alley."


	9. Approaching

**Sup guys! So I've finished Fragmentary passage and OMG ITS SO GOOD. I can't wait for KH3 to come out, when ever that is. Those gears remind me of the save areas at the end of dungeons in Persona Q though. Has anyone else played that? Oh well.**

 **Enough game rant. Onto the story!**

 **Pokeevee57:** **It's super fun right?! X3 Did you get the special edition with the pin? I got there too late so I waited a couple days to get it cause I'm a nerd. XD**

Sora sat on the couch, watching the King talking to Oswald and Ortensia in the front yard through the window, absentmindedly petting one of the rabbit children next to him. By the look on the couple's face, he guessed that he had told him the news.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell us as soon as you knew?" Oswald demanded, a hint of panic lining his voice.

"We needed to make a plan and I wanted to make sure that it didn't affect our judgment."

The rabbit put his hands on his hips, agitatedly tapping his foot on the ground, "Because we've never had to deal with anything like _that._ " He stated, the sarcasm in his words thick.

He blinked. Of course he has. Heck that was the entirety of their first meeting. He rubbed his eyes with a quiet, humorless laugh. "That's right. Sorry. I guess it's just a routine now."

He was met with silence. The silence made knots form in his stomach. He didn't want to open his eyes and see the expression he knew would be on his face. But he did.

And he was surprised.

"How often are you in these kinds of situations?"

The rabbit's expression was nothing but concern and surprise. He was looking over the mouse, unsure if he was actually as okay as he said he was. The cat next to him reflected the actions.

Mickey sighed, mostly in relief, partly because he might actually not be as okay as he thought he was. "It's not uncommon. Darkness is everywhere after all. I haven't had to really do it much lately since I've met Sora and everyone though. They've gotten used to adjusting to the situation." Oswald didn't seem too happy with that answer. Before he could say anything Mickey continued, "Let's just go with the plan for now. Ortensia will you contact us if anything happens?" she nodded, "Thanks. You ready Ozzie?" he still didn't look too happy but confirmed that he was. "Sora, we're all set!" he called into the house.

The boy ran out enthusiastically to meet them. "So where's Blot Alley?"

"Bog Easy," Oswald told him, "We'll take the projector and make out way from there."

He deflated slightly at the mention of the projector.

* * *

"What's that?"

"I told you. They're on their way here. They've been chattin up everyone in Wasteland looking for us and now they're headin this way."

"How'd they find us wise guy? How do you know that they ain't just comin to ask more folks about us?"

Static took up the room, "You said that they had one of these television doohickeys too didn't ya? Well then they probably went to Yen Sid to ask for help. He'd be able to find ya."

"So what exactly do we do about it?"

A fiendish chuckle rang against the walls, "Oh I got something just for em."

…

"I didn't know he had-"

"No one else does," Yen Sid told him. "Not even Donald or Goofy."

"Why?" Kairi asked, "Wouldn't they need to know?"

"He didn't want them to feel guilty," Riku opened his mouth to ask the obvious question, but Yen Sid continued, "Originally he was a part of their world until he went to Wasteland."

"Why did he go?" Riku asked, "And why would that make them feel guilty?"

Yen Sid sighed. "He had no choice," he told them, "Everyone in his forgot about him, and he lost his heart as a result."

"What?" they exclaimed simultaneously.

"How did that happen?" Riku asked.

"The darkness can cover over many things, and while it is rare, it can also cover the memories of people we love." Riku and Kairi glanced at each other nervously, "I made Wasteland as a way to keep those who lost their hearts in this way from disappearing."

"But they aren't Nobodies?"

"Because the way they lost it is so different from then normal method, they are able to keep their personalities and emotions. The complete reason for this isn't clear as of yet."

Riku ran his hand through his hair, thinking over everything they had just been told. Darkness seemed to always find ways to surprise him. He looked over to the book containing the world of the forgotten that his best friend was currently residing in.

And the darkness surprised him again.

"Master Yen Sid!"

* * *

Sora wondered out onto the abandoned street. He didn't expect there to be absolutely no one here. He looked around and realized that he was alone.

When he looked back at the two the king had an exasperated smile on his face and Oswald was facepalming. He blinked. What was he doing to receive those responses?

"Hey there mate!"

Sora jumped and promptly fell on his behind. He spun around toward the voice but nothing was there. He scrambled to his feet and whipped his head around in search of the speaker. He heard a sigh from one of the two he came with. So they knew what was going on. It'd be great if one of them would explain it to him.

His explanation was a face right up in his own. "You're a new face around here! What brings ya to Blot Alley." The ghost laughed when he leapt back at his sudden appearance.

"Ian."

Ian looked around the boy at the call. Sora turned around to them as well. Oswald was shaking his head at the ghost while Mickey waved next to him.

Sora nearly fell over again when Ian fazed through him to greet them. "Hey Boss Man!"

"Hiya Ian. How's it goin'?"

"Great! We've gotten some visitors around here since you've helped em out."

The mouse smiled, "That's good."

"Sure is. Now what'ch ya doin round here?"

"Well we're looking for the Petes." Oswald told him. "Have you seen them?"

"Actually I saw them a few weeks ago headin down toward club 13. Haven't seen them since though." All three shared a look. So that confirmed it. "I think one of them was holdin a gremlin too. I didn't see who it was." And that confirmed where Prescott had disappeared to.

"We need to get there as soon as possible," Oswald told him, "Are there many Blotlings out?"

"A few. I don't think any of 'em are friendly toward ya though boss."

"Its fine," Mickey unstrapped the paintbrush from his back, "We can just handle them like we did last time."

"Um…" Sora felt a little left out here, "What did you do last time?"

He seemed to recapture Ian's attention with his comment, "Forgot bout you! What's your name?"

"Sora," he answered uncertainly, "Do you always go around scaring people?"

"Course! I'm a ghost after all," he floated up and halfway through a building before issuing a goodbye, "I'll see you folks later, and make sure not to bother the spatters!" and he was gone.

Sora looked to Mickey and Oswald, still lacking an answer to his first question and another forming about the strange ghost.

Mickey laughed as he started down the street. "Come on. We'll explain on the way."

Sora nodded and followed. But somehow he didn't feel comfortable with it. Something felt off. It felt like something was waiting for them. Something was going to happen.

He just didn't know what.


	10. Tower

**Yeeeeeaaah I know it's been awhile sorry. My mental health decided to say "screw you" and take away all functionability and motivation for all this which resulted in a** ** _Huge_** **case of writer's block. I started taking some stuff called Min-Tran though and that's helped enough to clear that up so Yay!**

 **I think I'm going to try and have a big writing marathon later this week for all my stories so hopefully there will be another chapter up soon. Thanks for being patient with me and enjoy! :3**

 **Pokeevee57: You can not escape your destiny of bad luck Sora. It will always be there X3**

Sora decided that they needed a paint brush that worked of Heartless. It was awesome! It'd be so much easier to just turn them into friends than to fight off the hordes of them. Besides the shadows are barely too cute to just beat up. At least that's what Kairi says.

"Are we almost to the club?" he asked as some newly friendly blots waved them goodbye.

"We've only got a couple blocks to go," Oswald told him. "I just hope I don't get smashed by the door again." he mumbled ruefully.

Mickey snorted behind them at the memory, resulting in a glare from the rabbit. He smiled back innocently, making the glarer look away to avoid revealing his own to him. But he knew.

Sora smiled himself at the interaction. Honestly it was almost as if they were-

He stopped dead in his tracks, Mickey soon doing the same. Oswald looked between the two confused. "What?"

"Something's wrong." Was all Mickey said before it was there.

…

"Can we really do that?"

"Course we can!"

"Do you really think we'll be able to stop them with it?"

"If not it'll delay 'em enough to finish our plan"

A laugh rang out deep and malicious. "That baby is straight from the realm of darkness. If it can't do the job nothing can."

…

"What's happening?" Kairi asked as she and Riku ran up to Wasteland's book.

"They've released something new into Wasteland." Yen Sid explained as he looked down concernedly.

Riku closely examined the _thing_ that had suddenly appeared in Wasteland. It was a long black smear moving and writhing across the page. Every once and a while part of it would separate and sporadically move about before rejoining the main whole. Even from outside the book he could sense the powerful darkness it radiated.

"Master Yen Sid… Where is that thing?"

He studied the young keyblade master for a moment before answering, "Blot Alley."

Kairi covered her mouth to stifle the gasp that escaped her. "That's where Sora is, right?"

It was. They both knew it. The real question was, could he fight off such a strong darkness unscathed?

…

It was pushing back on them. It took all their energy just to keep upright. The darkness was so sudden and powerful, it was unbelievable. Sora managed to squint open his eyes enough to see what was causing such a strong presence.

His breath caught in his throat. "Your Majesty!" he yelled when it came back.

The mouse looked up at Sora's cry and gasped. He'd seen something like this before, but it was much larger, and much more powerful. "We need to get some distance from it." He yelled back to him. "We need to be able to clearly see it." Heartless towers were always obnoxious to fight. He didn't want to think about what would happen if they had to fight one this powerful without being able to see it.

"Yeah ok."

Mickey grabbed Oswald's arm as they retreated, the buffering wind pushing them along. At the same time the darkness was pulling back on them. It was trying to bring them back so that it could prey on them. The resistance made them constantly trip and stumble as they attempted to gain distance. The Petes had to be responsible for this. But how did they manage to get something so strong?

"Mickey!"

That thing was way faster than he expected. Oswald was attempting to blast the gaining enemy with his remote, only managing to shave off a small layer of shadows from the tower. He looked back to Mickey, waving his arms madly at it in a 'what do we do' way. Mickey shook his head, not entirely sure himself. He fought plenty of towers with Aqua, but this was a bit different. Maybe they could find some fireworks to fire at it.

The air around them was starting to feel heavier and it was getting harder and harder to see as they continued onward. They just needed a minute. A _minute_ to regroup and make a plan to fight. But it wasn't going to be easy to get.

"Sora, you okay?"

Silence.

"Sora?"

Silence.

Mickey looked around the area, searching for the spikey haired boy with no luck. Even if he was nearby he wouldn't be able to see him. The vision range had lowered to only a couple of feet in front of them.

"Did we lose Sora?" Oswald asked concernedly.

"He must have been separated in all this," Mickey panted, "He can handle himself. Right now I think we're in more trouble."

A loud crash sounded from nearby, nearly sending the two tumbling. It was attacking.

"I think you're right."

There were constant crashes all around them now. And was there chunks of the _road_ flying above them? How much raw power did this thing have?

A sharp pain cut into his back as one of the attacks finally connected and sent him into the air. He heard a grunt next to him as Oswald felt the same. To make things worse, the limited range of vision was limiting even more as they continued their trip through the air. And as a result they didn't see the window they crashed through. They felt it though.

The glass cut into Mickey's arm as it shattered around him before he thudded onto the ground and slid into the wall. Oswald had more momentum and slammed directly into the wall and falling to the ground. Mickey rushed over to him.

"Ozzie?!"

The impact seemed to have knocked him unconscious. He could feel the knot forming on the back of the rabbit's head. His arms and chest were cut up from the glass just like him. Overall he seemed okay, but that didn't make Mickey feel any better.

He heard the tower growing closer and quickly grabbed Oswald and dove behind a large table that was knocked over. He held his breath as the twisting of the heartless sounded outside. It was out there. It was looking for them.

He tightened his grip on Oswald, shutting his eyes. There was no way he'd be able to fight it and protect the unconscious rabbit at the same time. He didn't want anything to happen to him. It had taken so long to gain his trust, and now they were so close. He didn't want to risk him. He didn't want to lose him.

He didn't want to lose his brother.


	11. Getting Ready

**The Universe Hates Me! I posted one chapter on another story and then my mom took my laptop for work and then we Couldn't Find It. I swear I must be asking for it everytime I make a promise on here or something. GAH**

 **Plz R &R so I know how I'm doing with the story :3 thx!**

Ian flew over the wreckage of the streets in awe. It looked as if the earthquakes had come back and completely focused on this street instead of spreading across Wasteland. But he knew that wasn't the case. It was most likely that big black blob that was circling around Club 13.

* * *

Mickey nearly collapsed when he heard the tower leave. His stomach still had a tight knot in it though. And as he felt the darkness around him dissipate his head started clearing more and more.

The darkness must have been raising his anxiety and stress, he realized. But that had never happened when he was in the realm of darkness. What dark depth had this thing come from?

He leaned back against the table contemplating what to do next. He still had to fight that thing. If he didn't it'd go rampaging through all of Wasteland. Going in mentally prepared would help and overall he was physically fine. He wasn't sure if Oswald was though. While the rabbit didn't have any obvious injuries on the outside, he couldn't be sure if his impact with the wall did any internal damage. And he had no clue where Sora had gotten to. He hoped that he was okay.

So he was going in alone. As long as Oswald didn't wake up and yell at him for the thought. The rabbit's unconscious state was another problem. This place wouldn't be safe if he just left him as he was. Even without the heartless there would most likely be spatters wondering around.

That's why when Ian floated in he couldn't hide his relief.

"Boss! There you are. I've been lookin' all over for ya. What's going on?"

"It's a long story Ian," he leaned down and hauled up Oswald, "He's fine," Mickey assured the ghost when he saw the startled look on his face, "He knocked his head when we crashed in here. I need you to take him back home and find Sora. We lost him somewhere along the way."

"And what about you?"

"I'm going to go stop the Petes."

* * *

Sora had no clue what had just happened. One second he was running in a panic with Oswald and the King the next they were gone and the darkness had almost completely dissipated around him. Now he was just lost, wandering around trying to find them.

This place was incredibly clean for only being inhabited by spatters. Did they clean it regularly or something? Or does that ghost, Ian, do it?

Oh hey, that ghost! Maybe Ian could help him find the King! He lived here right? But how was he supposed to find him…

"Gah!" All that thought had gotten him was another name on the list to look for! And a transparent one to boot. There was no progress being made here!

"Hey there, Sora. Been lookin for you!"

Said boy jumped into the air as the ghost's voice popped in out of nowhere. He wasn't sure whether to fell annoyed that he had gotten scared _again_ or relieved that he didn't have to go off searching for the scare loving ghost.

The conflicting emotions both disappeared and where instantly replaced with shock and worry when he turned around and saw the limp rabbit with him.

"Is he okay?"

"Just knocked his head from the sound of it. Do you mind takin him back to his house? I gotta check on all the spatters. Some of them might be in trouble."

"Uh, sure," Sora answered, still slightly in shock, "Is the King okay? I thought they were together." Ian tilted his head in confusion. "Mickey." Sora corrected.

"Ah. As far as I could tell. He said he was goin to stop the Petes."

"What? Is that thing still there? He needs backup."

"Woah, woah." Ian stopped him before the boy ran off, "Bossman'll be fine. You need to worry about Oswald right now." Sora took the rabbit uncertainly, "I'll keep an eye out and if anything happens I'll come over and tell ya. How bout that?"

Sora sighed and nodded, "Alright. Where's the projector from here?"

* * *

Half an hour and a frenzied Ortensia later, Oswald started to stir in his bed. Ortensia was instantly on her feet as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head and wincing when he touched the bruise. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he easily received the tackle of a hug the cat gave him, "So much for 'Lucky' rabbit, huh?"

Ortensia rolled her eyes at the joke. At least it meant that he was functioning correctly.

"What happened?" Sora, who was standing near the door, asked, "Ian said you hit your head but not much else."

"That thing sent us into through the window of one of the buildings. I think I must have hit the wall pretty hard." That was when he noticed something was missing, "Where's Mickey?"

Sora fidgeted nervously. Never a good sign. "Ian said that he had gone to fight Petes."

"What?" he tried to jump out of the bed but quickly sat back down when he saw stars floating in his vision. "What is wrong with him? That thing is way too powerful! He can't take it on by himself!"

"And would that have stopped you?" Ortensia asked. He didn't answer, like she expected. She chuckled lightly, the laugh only partly forced. "You two really are related. He's a lot more like you that you realize."

Oswald groaned, "He's a troublesome little brother is what he is."

Sora blinked. "Little brother?"

* * *

He wasn't even a block away before the darkness hit him like a crashing wave. It definitely helped that he was mentally prepared for it, but he still felt it trying to tug and pull at his heart. At the very least going into the realm of darkness would feel like nothing comparatively.

The heartless tower spun and weaved around itself above Club 13 as he grew closer. He got the distinct feeling that it was waiting for him to come.

And he was definitely coming.


	12. Brothers

**Oh the end of this was** ** _so_** **much fun to write. I hope you all enjoy it and please review! :3**

 **howlingwhitewolfpup: thank you so much! It's the descriptions that always make me super nervous so I'm glad to hear that I'm doing just fine on them :)**

 **Pokeevee57: Sora never catches a break x3 Yeah there's tons of fics about them being brothers that are really good. You should check them out. EM3: Sealed in Ink is one that's started being posted recently. It's by AquaMermaid6 and 09alih if you want to look at it.**

 **empourer: the fact that Roxas absorbed her is what's keeping her from being there. All the other Wastelanders still had their bodies and everything, it was just their hearts that are missing so since Xion was completely absorbed into Roxas she couldn't be placed in Wasteland.**

"Little brother?"

Oswald looked up at the boy and nodded. "Yeah. He's my brother."

"I-" Sora just felt awkward now. What was he supposed to say? "I didn't know."

"Didn't think you did," Sora tilted his head in puzzlement. "Mickey didn't want anyone to feel bad about forgetting us so he never told anyone about us or this place. Plus it keeps risk down for any bad people finding this place."

"Oh… ok."

Oswald had to laugh at how awkward the young keyblade wielder looked now. Like he should've already known and was insulting him by not knowing. But he wasn't. Honestly it was kinda entertaining.

"So you're the older one?" Sora asked after gaining enough composition.

"Mm hm."

Ortensia held his hand with a small smile, "He can be a bit overprotective at times though. Like right now."

"Honey that thing is massive, there's no way he'll be okay on his own!"

"He did just fine with the Blot didn't he?"

Oswald groaned at her very good argument that he would not admit was very good cause dang it he really wanted to go back out there and drag him back by the ear for being so stupid. But instead he just flopped back onto the bed, defeated.

Ortensia just continued smiling, knowing full well that she had won.

* * *

Even with the mental readiness he had the wall of darkness the tower emitted still jolted his entire being. But now he could focus at least. His thoughts were clearer and he knew what he was up against.

His keyblade was in a deathgrip at his side as he kept every sense on high alert for any sign of his target. It was pretty easy to find it in that state of mind considering how loud the thing was.

He jumped out of the way as a mass of shadows slammed into the ground, shaking the ground beneath them. He could have sworn that he saw multiple heartless be destroyed as the attack impacted. It was so powerful it destroyed itself when attacking? Oh boy.

Mickey ran as the attacks started rapidly increasing, slashing whenever he could safely reach the heartless. But he didn't have endless stamina. He had to think of something to do.

He still had plenty of magic left. Maybe he could use that. He made a sharp turn, headed straight for its base, the center of the storm. He jumped from side to side as heartless endlessly cascaded down on him. He charged up his magic. The entire keyblade grew colder as he yelled,

"Blizzaga!"

The base at the command froze and the slippery surface caused

the rest of the tower to tumbled down. Mickey scrambled out of the way as the shadows fell all around him.

Right. So now he had a few hundred normal shadows to deal with. Surprisingly he was okay with that. He raised the keyblade towards his targets preparing himself for a final stretch.

Then the entire mass twitched as one.

Mickey had barely anytime to wonder why and how before there was a loud crack and explosion to his side. He felt searing pain cut through his arm and looked over to find the scattered results of his spell as the tower grew up once again.

Crud.

He tried another spell. Thundaga. It didn't work. It barely did a anything at all. That's right, Oswald had tried to use his remote on the thing with barely any results as well. Of course it wouldn't work.

He stumbled back as an attack lifted up the ground next to him and rolled back, landing on his stomach. He scrambled up, nearly falling over all over again as another attack flew over his head. His body was being pelted with debris coming from all over the place as it grew more and more sporadic.

He felt his back make a hard impact with the wall behind him as the tower finally hit him directly. It had landed right on his still bleeding arm and continued to press there as he struggled against it. Shadows were constantly trying to attack him individually from within the mass, making the task of freeing himself so much harder.

In a last effort he pointed his keyblade at the writhing mob, focusing every bit of energy and magic he could muster even some he was pretty sure he didn't have.

"Firagra!"

The entire battlefield lit up in flame. The shadows scattered out of formation as they searched for a way out of the fire. But they couldn't. One by one hearts released into the sky until the area was nothing but dying flames and an exhausted mouse.

* * *

Sora looked out at the dying light of dusk they waited. In all honesty he wanted to run out and help the king just as much as Oswald did. But the king obviously didn't want help.

Of course that hadn't stopped him at Radiant Garden during the mass heartless attack, but this felt different.

This was very much the king's world. Even if it wasn't his homeworld this was still his place. It's where he felt most comfortable. He had seen so much emotion pass through the king's eyes in the short time they had been here. He had never seen him like that before.

This was the kings decision and he would respect it. But he couldn't help looking out the window one last time as the sun completely disappeared behind the horizon.

* * *

Mickey let himself into Club 13, not even bothering to ring the bell next to the door. It was silent. Not a noise. Not a movement. Nothing.

He ran throughout the building, looking for any sign of life within the building. But it was useless.

They had gotten away.

* * *

Oswald nervously paced the living room. All the lights were off to avoid disturbing any of the sleeping bunny children who were asleep all throughout the house.

He couldn't sleep though. He just continued pacing and glancing out the window at the night anxiously.

"Honeybuns." Oswald turned to look at his wife as she stood in their doorway, watching him. "You need to sleep."

"I know. I know." Having stopped his pacing he resorted to tapping his foot. "I'm just getting restless. I'll come in soon I promise."

She nodded, walking back into the bedroom. He wanted so badly to run out and find that stupid mouse. So badly to yell at him for being so stupid. But-

He looked outside and left to do just that.

* * *

Mickey fell hard on the edge of the fountain as he sat down. His entire body hurt so much. The pain in his arm felt like it was trying to consume him. But at this point he didn't care much. It was gone and no longer a threat to Wasteland. That's what mattered here.

The mouse pointed his head upward, not even realizing it until the brilliant night sky stars filled his vision. At least he hoped those stars where the sky. In his condition they could very well just be specks in his exhausted vision. He still appreciated the view though. The stars were always something he loved to look at. All the worlds spanning across the never ending sea of the sky.

The thud of a door took Mickey out of his thoughts as he looked back down at the sound. It must have been Oswald's door since said rabbit was now rushing toward him. "You idiot!" he whisper yelled, trying not to awaken his neighbors, "What were you thinking? That was stupid! Idiotic! Idiot. Idiot. Idiot."

Mickey simple gave the ranting rabbit a tired smile. Oswald stopped talking when he saw it and ended up plopping down next to him on the fountain. "Are you okay?"

The entirety of his body felt like it was screaming at the highest pitch ever possible. "I'm fine."

Oswald barely had to look at the expression on his face before deciding, "No you're not."

He was right. "Really Ozzie. I'm alright."

The rabbit wasn't listening. He was looking over the mouse, trying to find any signs of serious injury, moving different parts of his body to get better a better look at another. Mickey tried to dissuade his. To tell him that he was fine.

Then he pulled on his arm.

Mickey covered his mouth as a high pitched yelp escaped. The pain coursed all through him, making everybody part throb harder and every thought in his brain to vanish. Oswald had nearly fallen off the fountain in recoil at the mouse's reaction. Now Mickey was curled in on himself, cradling his arm and he shook from the pain. His breath ragged with attempts to recover.

Oswald couldn't feel himself breathing as he watched. "Mickey…"

"I-" it was an effort to get out and it clearly showed, "I'm fine."

" _No. You're. Not._ " Oswald deadpanned. He slowly placed a hand on his back, trying his hardest not to cause the mouse any more pain, "Let me look. I'll be careful."

He didn't really have much of a choice as the older carefully spun him around to face him. He didn't fight it as Oswald gently took hold of his arm and started examining it. His forearm not only had a huge gash running down to his elbow, but the entirety was bruised in varying shades of purple and yellow. The swelling from the bruises had apparently helped keep the cut from bleeding too quickly, so at least there was that.

"We need to get you inside."

"Let me… catch my breath." Oswald nodded, keeping silent as he panted, his eyes squeezed as tight as they could. Oswald didn't like this one bit. Mickey should never had gotten this hurt. When he found those Petes he was gonna-

Mickey let out a quiet, hoarse laugh, alarming Oswald.

"Mick?"

"None of the ones me and Aqua faced where that powerful." He said, barely audible.

"Who's Aqua?"

Mickey looked up at Oswald, a sad expression in his eyes. "A friend. She-" he felt a tear run down his cheek. "She's trapped in the realm of darkness. I couldn't help her or any of them."

"Mickey you're rambling," Oswald told him, "Are you okay?"

He definitely wasn't talking about his physical health now. No he already knew that that had been flung out the door by that tower.

"I doubt it," he said truthfully, "I've had to stay strong as a king, but- Aqua's trapped in eternal darkness, Ven's in and eternal sleep, Terra's been taken over as one of Xenort's vessels, I'm barely home to see Minnie and I know she's lonely but I have to leave to try and keep the world order constantly, and I'm just-" _I'm tired_.

The tears were running freely down his face now. He hadn't even noticed them. His body had started turning numb from the pain and stress that was bombarding his brain at the moment. His exhaustion was starting to truly get to him if he was having this much trouble keeping everything from exploding out. The fight couldn't have been for that long so why was he so tired?

Oswald didn't feel like anything in his body was working. Mickey was crying. And not a little bit either. There were torrents falling down his face and landing on the hard surface of the fountain. He had never seen Mickey cry. Not once. And now he wasn't even sure if the mouse was aware of what was happening.

He wasn't entirely aware either as he wrapped his brother in a hug. Mickey froze, not sure what to do. He felt the rise and fall of Oswald's chest as he sighed, the air rustling the fur on his back slightly. "I wish I could've helped you."

Mickey wrapped his arms around him, ignoring the dulled pain his numb body tried alerting him to. He buried his face into Oswald's neck as his body shook once again. Maybe it hadn't been his exhaustion that had released all his jumbled thoughts, but maybe the comfort from his brother's presence that made him feel like it was safe to.

"You're helping plenty."


End file.
